New era in Dunkirk

The new year will usher in a new era in Dunkirk city government.

“It’s going to be a busy four years,” Mayor Jack Robbins said this week.

Robbins has appointed a Board of Works/Board of Public Safety, which will handle most of the operational supervision of city departments.

“Then we can get on to more serious business with the city council,” said Robbins, who served eight years on council.

The move, Robbins said, will clean up the council’s agenda, allowing that body to focus on ordinances, resolutions, city policies and budgeting.

The works/safety board will be made up of Robbins, former Dunkirk mayor Dan Watson and city council member Lisa Street.

Functioning as board of works, the three will provide direction to the water, street and wastewater departments. As board of public safety, they’ll provide direction to the police and fire departments.

In every case, they’ll be dealing with familiar faces.

Robbins made only one change in leadership for Dunkirk city departments, returning Dane Mumbower to his former position as chief of police.

Mumbower, who was removed from that position by Mayor Gene Ritter in late 2019, will replace Tracy Layman, who resigned as chief effective Dec. 31.

“I didn’t move Tracy out,” said Robbins. “He resigned.”

Of Mumbower, he added, “We’ve got one good man. I feel he’s the best man for the job.”

Other department supervisors will remain the same, with Steve Fields continuing as fire chief, Dace Mumbower heading up the water department, Larry Wright the wastewater treatment department and Mike Kreps the street department.

The park board will continue to supervise Dunkirk City Park, with longtime council member Tom Johnson acting as purchasing agent for the park.

Robbins acknowledged that he’d encountered a little pushback over his plans, but he believes it will result in a more effective and efficient city administration.

“There’s a few of them, they’re not ready for change,” he said, but he’s hoping to have individual council members focus their attention on departmental budgets rather than getting involved in day-to-day minutiae. The “small stuff,” Robbins called it.

He expressed enthusiasm about having former mayor Watson on board with the works/safety board.

“He’s going to be a great asset to Dunkirk,” he said. “He was before.”

City council veteran Street, he said, will be an asset because of her insights as an active union member at Ardagh Group, Dunkirk’s largest employer.

“She’ll get involved when she has to,” he said.

Robbins said his focus over the next four years will be to build on the community’s strengths.

“We’ve got to look at what we’ve got going for us,” he said, citing the library, glass museum, community center and other amenities. “Quality of life, that’s what I’m going after.”

He added, “My big thing is going to be Community Crossings.” He hopes to leverage about $75,000 in the city’s budget for paving to capture as much as $400,000 in state funding for local street and sidewalk projects.

By 2021, he said, the restored Dunkirk railway depot should be finished and ready for marketing. By 2022, he hopes to have sidewalks completed from what is now West Jay Middle School to Quincy Place on Dunkirk’s east side.

Work on a downtown mural is expected to begin this spring, another project that gets an enthusiastic endorsement from Robbins.

“The wall has been prepped,” he said. “This will be a big asset for Dunkirk. … I think that’s going to be fantastic. … More than anything, I wanted that wall fixed.”

The first meeting of the new board of works/board of public safety is set for 3 p.m. Thursday at the city building.